Grampus Bow Out of ACL with 2-1 Loss

As expected, Nagoya duly bowed out of this year's ACL tourny. The four goal deficit from the first leg proving far too big a hurdle to overcome against an organized and effective opponent. Grampus had chances to score a couple of goals, with Josh seeing header crash against the bar after 30 minutes, and both the lanky Aussie and Brazilian Magnum should have converted good chances later in the game. However, the Saudi's always looked dangerous on the break and scored a decisive goal just before half time to kill off any chance of a miraculous comeback by Nagoya.

Over the two legs, Al Ittihad were the better prepared and able to play to their strengths, while Grampus ere hampered by the early dismissal of Takeuchi in the first game and the absence of experienced players. However, these factors only exaggerated the margin of victory, the Saudi's were much batter than last year's finalists Adelaide and worthy winners over the two legs. They should go onto win the tournament early next month.



Nagoya Grampus
Toru Hasegawa
Yoshizumi Ogawa, Maya Yoshida, Takahiro Masukawa, Shohei Abe,
Keiji Tamada (Keita Sugimoto 62), Alex Santos (Keiji Yoshimura 84), Igor Burzanovic, Magnum
Josh Kennedy, Yuki Maki (Naoshi Nakamura HT)
Scorers: Sugimoto 66

Al Ittihad
Zaid
Alrahab, Alshamrani (Leguizamon HT), Alsaqri, Almontashari
Aboshgair, Aboucherouane (Alnumare 89), Almukhaini, Khariri
Hawsawi (Abdullah 89), Chermiti
Scorers: Alsaqri 43, Chermiti 59

Other Views
Gomiuri: No miracles for Grampus
JT: Al Ittihad finishes off Nagoya in ACL semis